Drier structure



July 20,1926. 1,593,004

w. ALLINSON DRIER STRUCTURE Filed March 25, 1926 Patented July 20, 1926.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM ALLINSON, OF DES MOINES/IOWL.

. DRIER srnuoruan.

Application filed larch 25, 1926. Seriallo. 97,279.

radially outwardly from the middle of said partition, and with opposite ribs extending radially inwardly from the wall of the cyl-v inder.

Still another object is to provide in such a drier suitable sliding doors'for the foraminous cylinder, and a hinged door for'the casing, so arranged and mounted that it will beyieldingly held either in its closed or opened position. I

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my drier structure, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical, sectional view through a drier embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a detail, sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure'lj and V Figure 3 is a detail, sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

In the drawingsherewith, I have used the reference numeral 100 to indicate generally the outer casing, preferably made of sheet metal, forming a portion of the drier, and adapted to receive within it the rotating foraminous drying cylinder.

A shaft 110 extends longitudinally through the casing and through the walls therediscs fixed on the shaft 110. Connecting the 1 122, when the partition 113 is in a horizonta The inner or rotating cylinder is provided with the end walls 111, having the form of ends 111 is the. cylindrical foraminous wal 101. The foraminous cylinder 101 may be connected with the disc end members 111 by means of annular angles 112, as shown in Figures 1' and 2.

The inner rotating cylinder formed by the and members 111 and the foraminous cylinder 101 is divided into two semi-cylindrical compartments, by means of a median foramv inous partition 113.

Ribs 114 pro ect radially into the two compartments thus formed from the shaft 110. The ribs 114 may be formed of a single strip of wood or the like as shown in Figure 1.

Each compartment has op osite its rib 114, an opposite rib 115 exten lng inwardly from the wall of the cylinder 101, as illustrated in Figure 1.

The ribs 114 and 115 extend from end to end of the respective semi-cylindrical compartments.

-At the back of the drier at the upper por-' tion of the cylindrical casing 100 is an opening 116, which communicates with a passage 102 leading from the heating chamber 103, 1n which are the heating coils 104.

7 Air is conducted bymeans of fans or otherw1se, not here shown, through the chamber 103, past the heating coils 104, and

thence through the passage 102 and opening 116 to the interior of the casing 100 through the foraminous cylinder 101.

At the bottom of the cylindrical casing 100 and communicating therewith is-an outlet passage 117. p A

At the front of the casin 100 just above the middle line thereof is afioor 118 hinged at its upper edge 'to the casing 100 and adapted to close the opening 122 in the easin 100.

prings 119 the casing 100 substantially on a radial line with the axes of the hinges of the door 118 and are secured to the ends of said door, so that the springs tend to hold the door closed when it is in its closed position.

Likewise when the door is swung upward- 1y to open position, these springs 119 swing over center and then yieldingly tend to hol the door in its open ositionf Each of the semi-cylindrical. compartments formed in the foraminous inner, rotating drging cylinder has an opening 105, so locate as toregister with t e openin plane.

Supported on the end walls 111 are guide members 106 arranged to meat with the an,- gles 112 to serve as guides for strips 107 PATENT. OFFICE.

are secured to the side walls or forming part of a door for closing the ofening 105. The strips 107 are connects by strips 108 extending longitudinally of the compartment and forming frame members for the door.

The strips 107 and 108 are connected by a foraminous closure member 120.

The door thus described has a handle 109 for convenience in manipulating it.

My improved drier has a number of important advantages.

Ordinarily driers of this general type are made in the form of cylinders, and when they are stopped, the operator has to reach into the bottom of the cylinder to get out the clothes, after the drying operation has been completed.

In my device, the drying cylinder is divided into two distinct compartments, and owing to the arrangement of the ribs in the compartments, the clothes are always in the front half of the compartment, from which they are to be removed, when the doors are opened for taking out the clothes. 1 V

This is true because as the foraminous cylinder is rotated anti-clockwise, as illustrated inFigure 1, the clothes in the upper compartment during the first quarter revolution will drop from the portion near the door to the opposite side of 'the compartment.

During the next half revolution, they will roll over the ribs 115, and during the last quarter revolution will drop into the portion adjacent to the door and will remain there.

The ribs 114 serve also to help to roll the clothes over, which contributes to the stirring of them, and exposing all portions of the rment to the warm drying air.

Tgis makes it true that the clothes are in the most accessible portion of the device, when the drier is stopped to take them out.

The features of structure whereby this is accomplished are of great importance, and such a structure contributes greatly to the facility and convenience and comfort with which the clothes may be removed from the drier.

Attention is called also to the convenience of the manner of mounting the door 118 and of holding it either in its closed or open position.

Another advantage of this structure may be seen from the comparison with tumblers ordinarily used, in which usually'the cylinder is operated on trunnions at its ends, and the cylinder is rotated by power applied to one end only. Such a method of applying the power to the cylinder tends to wreck and twist the cylinder, because it imposes a twistin strain on the cylinder.

With t e present structure, wherein the shaft runs entirely through the cylinder and is operated from some outside mechanism not shown, it will be seen that rotation of the shaft is applied to both sides of the cylinder at the same time, and there is no tendency to twist the cylinder by applying power to one side only, because all the strain is on the shaft and the shaft connects with both sides of the cylinder.

In ordinary driers, it is the custom to use reversing gears for giving to the cylinder rotary movement in both directions as may be desired.

It is the custom with such other driers to rotate the cylinder a few revolutions in one directiop and then to reverse the mechanism and rotate the cylinder in the other direction. This practice is followed in order to preventthe clothes from tangling or wadding together in a close pile.

With my device, using the partition 113 and the ribs herein shown, the cylinder can be rotated in one direction all of the time, and yet I have found in actual practice that the clothes do not tend to bunch or tangle.

It will therefore be seen that a cylinder of this kind can be operated with less complicated and less expensive power mechanism than has heretofore been possible.

It is also true that a cylinder of this kind can be operated with less horse power than is the case with those using reversing gearing. It will be obvious that with very slight modifications, my device can be used as a washing machine, as well as a drier.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the class described, a casing, a foraminous cylinder received therein, a partition extending from side to side in said cylinder dividing the cylinder into compartments or pockets, a rib projecting outwardly in each compartment from said partition, and a radially opposite rib extending inwardly from the outer wall of each pocket.

2. In a device of the class described, a casing, a. foraminous cylinder received therein, a middle foraminous partition extending from side to side in said cylinder, dividing the cylinder into two semi-cylindrical compartments or ockets, a rib projecting outwardly in eacli pocket from the middle of said partition.

3. In a device of the class described, a casing, a foraminous cylinder rotatably mounted therein, a partition extending from side to side and from end to end of said cylinder dividing the cylinder into compartments, and a rib extending radially inwardly from the outer wall of each compartment in the plane of the axis of said cylinder.

4. In a device of the class described, a casing, a foraminous cylinder received therein, a middle foraminous artition extending from side to side in sair cylinder dividing the cylinder into two semi-cylindrical comlIO each pocket, said cylinder having doors provided for the separate compartments or pockets on the peripheries of the pockets on opposite sides of said partition, the construction of the cylinder being such that when the cylinder is turned substantially to the position where the artition is horizontal, the clothes in the t en upper pocket will be in that half thereof adjacent to the door, said ribs serving also to turn the-clothes over during the rotation of the cylinder.

5. In a device of the class described, a casing, a foraminous cylinder received therein, a middle foraminous partition extending from side to side in said cylinder dividing the cylinder into two semi-cylindrical compartments or ockets, a rib projecting outwardly in eac pocket from the middle of said partition, and a radially opposite rib extending inwardly from the outer wall of each pocket, said cylinder having doors provided for the separate com artments or pockets on the peri heries of t e pockets on opposite sides of sald partition, the construction of the cylinder being such that when the cylinder is turned substantially to the position where the partition is horizontal, the clothes in the then upper pocket will be in that half thereof adjacent to the door, said ribs serving also to turn the clothes over during the rotation of the cylinder. a hinged door on said casing, and means for yieldingly holding the door in either its open or closed position, when such position is assumed.

WILLIAM ALLINSGN. 

